The NATO-and-allied-countries naval exercise in the southern Baltic, BALTOPS 2015, took place between 5 and 20 June of this year. I was digging in the hope of getting some information about any wargames that might be involved, and noticed something interesting.
Dynamic Mongoose is an ongoing series of naval exercises in anti-submarine warfare, taking place off the coast of Norway. This year's exercise was rather more multinational than recent years' have been, perhaps inspired by recent reports of possibly-Russian submarines inside other nations' territorial waters. The most blatant sign that it is being taken seriously is that it happened in May rather than the usual February in the North Sea. (Still cold, but rather less horrible.)
When we were on our way to see Defender last Saturday, we spotted this Spanish frigate moored at West India Docks. I was able to get back to see her in a bit more detail on Monday. Images follow: cc-by-sa on everything.
After the tour of HMS Middleton, it was off to Greenwich to see the Type 45 HMS Defender. As with other recent tours, it was very selective, with no access to berthing or engineering spaces. Images follow: cc-by-sa on everything.
The Hunt-class minesweeper HMS Middleton was open to the public at HMS President. No, they didn't let me look at the engines, and I understand she's recently been given new ones anyway. Images follow: cc-by-sa on everything.
Several modern European navies have fielded Amphibious Transport Docks, ships designed to transport amphibious forces into harm's way while not themselves being major combatants.
The People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force has been making substantial, though largely ignored, efforts to gain a carrier aviation capability.
The amphibious warfare ship HMS Bulwark is the current flagship of the Royal Navy. Last Sunday I had the chance to go aboard her at Greenwich, since she was open to the public as a PR exercise; tickets vanished quite fast. Images follow: cc-by-sa on everything.